I'm a Christfag here, so inb4 thumbs down. But a big part of Christianity/Judaism is that God gave Man free will. God's allowance of evil isn't malevolence (Though I understand how it can be seen that way), but more of just letting people be people. Remember, I'm stating beliefs here, not saying that they are facts. So I'm not insulting the content or it's creator's views in any way, just saying it is a bit misguided from our beliefs.

That still doesn't account for natural disasters. People have no control over that, so free will is not a factor. Also, allowing tragedy to occur in order to test people is a theory that conflicts with the notion that a god would be omniscient. However, if you have a viable theory which accounts for these inconsistencies, I would like to hear it. No, that wasn't sarcasm.

I'll admit, pretty much all religions have innumerable flaws in things like that. But many people have a belief (Kind of like I do) That God isn't as in touch with Humanity as he once was. To put it simply, God set the world in motion, and he just "left". There are things that pop up occasionally, though, that could be taken as signs, but no one could really prove it. A big part of that is the belief that Christ's crucifixion was the fulfillment of Jewish Law, so God was pretty much done worrying about Humanity's sins, as Jesus was a metaphorical sacrificial lamb to God (Which raises even more controversies of its own).

Wow, a complete, rational exchange regarding differing religious viewpoints. That was an enjoyable surprise. Personally, I wouldn't quite say I'm atheist, but I do not believe in any religion. I am open to the idea that a god-like figure could potentially exist, but I don't feel that any existing ideas as to what that might be stand up to logical scrutiny. In short, I have no religious beliefs, but if evidence to support such an idea were to come to light, I would take that into consideration.